Open Season (film)
Open Season is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy film and the first installment in the film series. It is directed by Roger Allers, Jill Culton, and Anthony Stacchi and was released on September 29, 2006. The film stars Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, and Debra Messing. The film was produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Columbia Pictures. The story centers around woodland creatures that are traditionally hunted teaming up against hunters. It has also been released in the IMAX 3D format. It was Sony Pictures Animation's first theatrical feature. It was followed by 2 sequels: Open Season 2 (which was released on September 24, 2008) and Open Season 3 (which was released on October 21, 2010). A video game for the film was released on multiple platforms. Plot In the tranquil mountainous town of Timberline, a 900-pound grizzly bear named Boog (Martin Lawrence) enjoys a captive, but happy, existence. Boog spends his day as the star attraction of the town's nature show under the name, "The Mighty Grizzly." Boog spends his nights living the life of luxury in the garage of his owner, a park ranger named Beth (Debra Messing), who raised him since he was a cub. One day, Shaw (Gary Sinise), the main antagonist, drives into town with a mule deer named Elliot (Ashton Kutcher) strapped to the hood of his truck. Boog wakes Elliot by poking him as they both scream in terror. With Boog reluctant to intervene, Elliot begs to Boog for help to escape. At the last minute and against his better judgment, Boog frees Elliot before Shaw could go after him. Boog never expects to see his "buddy" again. Elliot follows Boog home and finds him sleeping in the garage and starts throwing jackrabbits (Frank Welker, uncredited) at his window. Elliot tells Boog the he is intent on returning the favor by "freeing" him from his garage captivity. Elliot introduces Boog to a world of sweet temptations outside of the garage, that he has never known. When Boog becomes intoxicated with sugar, events quickly spiral out of control as the duo ransack the store. Elliot escapes before Boog is caught by Sheriff Gordy (Gordon Tootoosis), the sheriff of Timberline and Beth's best friend. At the nature show, Boog meets up with Elliot, who is being chased by Shaw. Boog attacks Elliot, making the audience panic and flee before Boog threatens to kill Elliot. Shaw prepares to shoot Boog, but Boog is instead shot by Beth with a tranquilizer gun, and then proceeds to shoot Elliot's butt 6 times. An upset Gordy is about to arrest Shaw, but the hunter has already slipped away. Boog and Elliot are then released into the Timberline National Forest, only 3 days before the start of open season. Since he lacks any outdoor skills, Boog takes Elliot as his hapless guide to get him back home to Timberline to reunite with Beth. But in the woods, they quickly learn that it is every animal for itself. The duo run into their share of the forest animals, including short-tempered skunks named Rosie (Michelle Murdocca) and Maria (Nika Futterman), psychotic mallards named Serge (Danny Mann) and Deni (Matthew W. Taylor), and jackrabbits. They also run into critters, such as McSquizzy (Billy Connolly), a Scottish squirrel, his gang the Furry Tail Clan, Reilly (Jon Favreau), O'Toole (Fergall Reilly), and Reilly's beaver construction worker team, and a porcupine (Matthew W. Taylor) who's in search of a friend. With each adverse encounter, Boog learns a little about self-reliance and Elliot gains self-respect. Elliot finds Giselle (Jane Krakowski), his love interest, but is also found by the herd and their leader Ian (Patrick Warburton), Elliot's arch-rival who has told Elliot to leave the herd and to never come back. Ian, his herd, and Giselle then leave afterwards, soon followed by Boog and Elliot, who have both realized that they've obtained true friendship. Elliot tries to lead Boog out of the forest, but it becomes evident that he has no clue where they're going. After winding up at Reilly's dam, Boog and Elliot are almost shot by Shaw (who thinks he succeeded and left while laughing evilly), but it turns out he missed and just shot the tree they hid behind. Boog, who is desperate to leave, runs over the beaver dam, but it's not a "load bearing structure". It breaks under his weight, and the rush of the water washes everyone in the forest (including Shaw, who was leaving in his truck while still laughing to himself about when he thought he shot Boog and Elliot) to the clearing below the 'falls. At first, everyone blames Boog, but Boog accuses Elliot of lying to him about leading him home. Elliot confesses, saying that he wanted Boog as a friend and thought if they just spent time together, it would work out. Despite Elliot apologizing and wanting him and Boog to remain friends, the grizzly gets upset and says that he's better off alone, and then leaves the forest to find his own way back home. While trying to find a way back to Timberline, Boog stumbles upon Shaw's log cabin. Shaw soon realizes he's there and chases him to the city road, where Boog happens upon the glowing lights of Timberline. Instead of deserting his companions, Boog helps the other animals defend themselves, using supplies taken from Bob and Bobbie (Georgia Engel)'s RV, while their pet dachshund, Mr. Weenie (Cody Cameron), joins the fight. The following day, Boog leads a rampage against the hunters, sending them running after McSquizzy blows up their trucks. Shaw then returns for a final battle against Boog. Elliot takes a bullet meant for Boog, enraging Boog, who ties up Shaw with his own gun. Boog finds that Elliot survived the blast, only losing his 2nd antler in the fight. Beth returns to take Boog back home, but he stays with his best friends instead. Boog and Beth then realize that Boog is home. Boog, Elliot, and the rest of the animals then have a rabbit fight. A rabbit thrown by Boog hits the screen. The rabbit slides down the screen, and the screen goes black, with a few of the credits appearing. The scene then cuts to Shaw, who is still tarred and feathered in the leaves. Then, Bob and Bobbie's trailer appears, with the headlights flashing. Bob is reading the map to find Bigfoot. Bobbies sees Shaw in the middle of the road, gasps, and tries to warn Bob. The trailer hits Shaw, with the feathers hitting the screen. Bob and Bobbie then start laughing, and then they high-five. "A real live homo Sasquatchez!", Bobbie exclaims. They start laughing again. The camera goes up to reveal that Shaw in on top of their trailer. Shaw then shouts, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" and the camera zooms into his mouth and the full credits begin. Voice cast * Martin Lawrence as Boog * Ashton Kutcher as Elliot * Gary Sinise as Shaw * Debra Messing as Beth * Jane Krakowski as Giselle * Gordon Tootoosis as Gordy * Patrick Warburton as Ian * Billy Connolly as McSquizzy * Cody Cameron as Mr. Weenie * Georgia Engel as Bobbie * Danny Mann as Serge * Matthew W Taylor as Buddy / Deni / Others * Jon Favreau as Reilly * Fergal Reilly as O'Toole * Michelle Murdocca as Rosie * Nika Futterman as Maria * Jack McGee as Hunter * Kirk Baily, Jack Blessing, Ranjani Brow, David Cowgill, Caitlin Cutt, Elisa Gabrielli, Jackie Gonneau, Wendy Hoffman, Scott Menville, Renee Robert, André Sogliuzzo, Hans Tester as Additional Voices * (unknown) as Beavers * Frank Welker as Jackrabbits / Animals' vocal effects (uncredited) Production The ideas for Open Season came from cartoonist Steve Moore, who is known for his comic strip In the Bleachers. Moore and producer John Carls submitted the story to Sony in June 2002, and the film immediately went into development. On February 29, 2004, Sony Pictures Animation announced the beginning of the production on its first CGI animated film Open Season. The film location was inspired by the towns of Sun Valley, Idaho and McCall, Idaho, and the Sawtooth National Forest. References to the Lawn Lake, Colorado, Dam flood, Longs Peak, and other points of interest in the area are depicted in the film. The Sony animation team developed a digital tool called shapers that allowed the animators to re-shape the character models into stronger poses and silhouettes and subtle distortions such as squash, stretch, and smears, typical of traditional, hand-drawn animation. Until the film's premiere, Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher never met during production. Reception Open Season received mixed reviews from critics. Critics of Rotten Tomatoes gave the film 48% (out of 100 reviews) with the consensus "Open Season is a cliched palette of tired jokes and CG animal shenanigans that have been seen multiple times this cinematic year." Kevin Smith gave the movie a good review during an appearance as a guest critic on At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper saying, "If your kids like poop jokes as much as I do, Open Season will put a big smile on their faces." However, Richard Roeper gave the film a mixed review saying "It's just okay, the animation is uninspired." Open Season opened #1 with $23 million on its opening weekend. It grossed $85.1 million in the United States and $104.8 million in foreign countries making $189.9 million worldwide. Rolling Stone gave the movie's soundtrack 3 out of 5 stars, as did Allmusic. | title=Open Season (Original Soundtrack) > Review| author=Thomas Erlewine, Stephen| publisher=Allmusic. Macrovision| accessdate=2009-08-16 }} Home media Coming soon! Short film A short film called Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run was released in 2006. Sequels A direct-to-video sequel titled Open Season 2 was released on September 24, 2008; 2 years later, another sequel was made, called Open Season 3, was released on October 21, 2010. Television series A spin-off television series called Boog and Elliot's Big Adventure will air on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, but there has yet to be any official announcement. Gallery Coming soon! Trivia * For the next three sequels, Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher are replaced by Mike Epps, Joel McHale, Matthew J. Munn, and Matthew W. Taylor. See also * Film transcript * ''Open Season'' franchise References Category:Films